The United States National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) has been interested in the possibility of extra terrestrial life through the history of the program. NASA has made many efforts to make contact with extra terrestrial intelligence through its Pioneer, Voyager and TOPS programs but has so far been unsuccessful. Some individuals believe that NASA already has knowledge of extra terrestrial intelligence and is covering up this discovery.

Many individuals within the UFO community believe that US astronauts have repeatedly seen UFOs on their missions. They allege that UFOs have continually monitored astronauts during their space missions and NASA is keeping this fact secret from the public. These individuals speculate that the astronauts have been sworn to secrecy on their encounters with UFOs.

Astronaut Major Gordon Cooper testified before the United Nations that he believed that extra terrestrial beings were visiting the Earth with advanced spacecraft. Former astronaut Edgar Mitchell believes that extra terrestrials have crashed landed on Earth and the US government is covering it up. He feels that the US government has borrowed this extra terrestrial technology and used in their advanced military hardware.

In July of 1976, the Viking orbiter sent back images of Mars that appeared to look like a face. Afterwards NASA said that the 'Face on Mars' could be a shadow, erosion, wind or other natural forces. Some individuals were unconvinced by NASA's explanation and believe that it represents evidence of a long lost civilization on Mars.

NASA's official statement is that the agency is not engaged in day-to-day research of the possibility of alien life on other planets or investigating UFOs. During several space missions, NASA astronauts have reported phenomena not immediately explainable; however, in every instance NASA has determined that the observations could not be termed "abnormal" in the space environment.

In 1972, Pioneer 10 was launched into outer space, carrying an aluminum plaque with a message to extra terrestrial civilizations. The message was designed to communicate the existence of Earth, and human beings to any extra-terrestrial intelligence that Pioneer 10 might encounter. On NASA's Voyager 1 & 2 program they attached a phonograph record containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth to extra terrestrial civilizations.

In 1977 US President Carter's Science Advisor recommended that a small panel of inquiry be formed to see if there had been any new significant findings on UFOs. After studying all of the facts NASA decided that there was nothing to gain from the investigation and terminated the project.

In October 1992, NASA was directed by Congress to develop a project to search for artificial radio signals from other civilizations. NASA created the Towards Other Planetary Systems (TOPS)/High-Resolution Microwave Survey (HRMS) program to search for extra terrestrial radio signals. Congress ordered NASA to terminate the project in October 1993 before the program was able to detect any extra terrestrial radio signals.

On August 6, 1996 a NASA research team found evidence that life may have existed on Mars 3.6 billion years ago. Organic molecules and other evidence of biological activity were found in a meteorite, thought to be of Martian origin, found in Antarctica in 1984 after having fallen to earth approximately 13,000 years ago.

NASA has demonstrated a keen interest in exploring the possibility of extra terrestrial life. At this point in history NASA has been unable to confirm the existence of extra terrestrial intelligence. Some members of the UFO community believe that NASA already has knowledge of extra terrestrial intelligence but chooses to hide it from the public. Unfortunately, these individuals have yet to produce any evidence to provide undeniable proof of extra terrestrial contact by NASA. If evidence of extra terrestrial contact did come forward it would represent the biggest discovery of this century

Related Books
[1] Good, Timothy
Above Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Cover-Up

Related Links
[1] Apollo Astronaut Says Aliens Have Landed
[2] NASA Facts on UFOs
[3] Voyager's Greeting to the Universe
[4] NASA Hot Topics
[5] Astronomy Picture of the Day